Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Acquires 79,430 Shares of Cencora, Inc. $COR

Key Points

• Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Cencora, Inc. by 61.5%, now holding 208,516 shares valued at approximately $62.5 million.
• Cencora reported $4.00 earnings per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $3.79, along with an 8.7% revenue growth year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.20 and a yield of 0.8%.

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR - Free Report) by 61.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 208,516 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 79,430 shares during the period. Cencora comprises approximately 1.1% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. owned 0.11% of Cencora worth $62,524,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Cencora by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,647,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,682,821,000 after buying an additional 787,858 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Cencora by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,421,262 shares of the company's stock worth $1,507,599,000 after buying an additional 363,402 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of Cencora by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,411,193 shares of the company's stock worth $1,505,984,000 after buying an additional 404,093 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 42.1% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,607,964 shares of the company's stock worth $1,281,429,000 after purchasing an additional 1,364,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cencora by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,711,281 shares of the company's stock worth $475,890,000 after purchasing an additional 154,311 shares during the last quarter. 97.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Cencora and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cencora from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Cencora from $337.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cencora currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $311.25.

Cencora Price Performance

Shares of COR traded down $3.93 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $286.09. The stock had a trading volume of 404,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,579,901. The company's fifty day moving average is $292.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.64, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.53. Cencora, Inc. has a 52 week low of $218.65 and a 52 week high of $309.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.62.

Cencora (NYSE:COR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.79 by $0.21. Cencora had a net margin of 0.60% and a return on equity of 267.36%. The business had revenue of $80.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.34 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Cencora, Inc. will post 15.37 EPS for the current year.

Cencora Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Cencora's dividend payout ratio is 22.63%.

Insider Transactions at Cencora

In other Cencora news, Chairman Steven H. Collis sold 31,350 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.86, for a total transaction of $9,087,111.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 305,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $88,671,942.18. This represents a 9.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert P. Mauch sold 4,968 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.11, for a total transaction of $1,461,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 42,351 shares in the company, valued at $12,455,852.61. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 65,475 shares of company stock worth $19,080,900. Corporate insiders own 10.80% of the company's stock.

Cencora Profile

Cencora, Inc sources and distributes pharmaceutical products. The company's U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment distributes pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers; provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; packaging solutions to various institutional and retail healthcare providers; clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support services; data analytics, outcomes research, and additional services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers; pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and other products to the companion animal and production animal markets; and sales force services to manufacturers.